


Six Feet Under, Together

by schroedingersfox



Category: Avengers Assemble (Cartoon), Iron Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Buried Alive, Humor, M/M, Tony needs to test his prototypes, enemies to enemies who makeout, loki's a little shit, possible clausterphobia, vague Avengers Assemble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-11-18 20:16:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11298066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schroedingersfox/pseuds/schroedingersfox
Summary: Loki obligingly sat upright, and the light from the reactor spread across the small room once more. Tony could now easily see the precarious ceiling above them, formed from steel beams and broken concrete.“I didn’t mean for the shock wave to be that large,” Tony said carefully. “Which means only half of this is my fault.”





	Six Feet Under, Together

**Author's Note:**

> vague Avengers Assemble-style, because there's less baggage and I love cartoon villainy, especially from Loki

In the stillness beneath the settling earth, Loki startled awake. The first thing he noticed was that he lived.

He lay sore and supine, the ground hard against his back, but he lived. In that single first breath, the dust in the air dried his mouth and coated his throat, and he rolled to spit the taste from his tongue. This felt alive, at least.

The second thing he noticed was the dead body on the floor.

Light shone upwards from the circle on its chest, hitting a low ceiling and radiating out. Loki was not immediately bothered, being no stranger to death. He would have argued, however, that there was a fundamental difference in seeing fallen men on the battlefield, and being entombed with one.

He reached for his magic to call for more light. But when it should have flared up and out to fill the rest of the room, there was only the feeling of giving way, like water passing over his hand. He could clearly feel the magic within him, but when he tried to grip hold of it, it merely scurried free.

The second attempt yielded no better result. He pushed himself sitting, determined to make it work, but noticed too late the hook on his sleeve until it caught, tore the sleeve, and grazed the skin below. A frustrated anger began to simmer, and Loki sat there unmoving. He felt for the offender, hand groping in the dark, and he recognized it as the horn to his helmet, jutting out from where the rock had crushed the rest.

It was enough; he knew exactly who was to blame. And so he sneered at the Iron Man suit in front of him and kicked at it with his boot.

Loki felt ridiculous then, pouting like a child and blaming the dead, but it had been a very long day and there was no one around to express their disapproval. He kicked at it a second time, and a muffled noise from inside the suit made him sit up straighter.

No longer did he lounge in bitter contemplation, but instead crawled the short distance to the suit. He straddled himself over the glowing torso and grabbed at the remains of the helmet. A sharp pull relieved it from the shoulders; he tossed it aside. The occupant inside was breathing just as well as he, if perhaps unconscious, and Loki felt rather ambivalent about it.

He took hold of the suit’s shoulders and shook.

“Wake up, Stark. What have you done?”

Loki’s voice filtered into Tony’s ears. It was at first a white noise, which then slowly coalesced into speech. Tony grew aware of someone speaking, even if the meaning was still beyond his grasp. He mumbled a response intending to be, “Ten more minutes, Pep.”

Loki grew more insistent, determined in waking him up, and Tony finally forced open his eyes. There was a brief, hazy quality to his vision. Then it cleared.

“Fucking hell.”

“There you are,” Loki said, face lit by the reactor below and mouth split wide into a mock grin. He leaned forward and pressed his hands into the ground on either side of Tony’s head. “I had thought you dead. How delighted I am to see that you are not.”

Tony tried to scramble back and away, but the weight of an Asgardian god kept him firmly planted still. A fist-like sensation in his throat threatened to choke off his air and blood pulsed loudly in his ears. “Yeah, no, still alive and kicking, no thanks to you. Now would you get off?”

“As I said,” Loki continued, “I am relieved. Being buried with the dead is not how I planned this day. It’d be quite the stench, wouldn’t you agree? But now that you are alive, and awake, I have been meaning to ask—”

Loki’s eyes brightened, and his smiled widened even further. “What exactly have you done, you clever idiot?”

Tony hesitated. “I’m not sure what you mean.” Even in the low light he could see Loki’s mouth press into a disbelieving line.

“Do you wish to rethink that specific answer?”

Several moments passed.

“I guess," Tony said. "If you insist. But you’re still too close for comfort.”

Loki obligingly sat upright, and the light from the reactor spread across the small room once more. Tony could now easily see the precarious ceiling above them, formed from steel beams and broken concrete. Loki’s head had little clearance.

Tony listed off the events as he remembered them. “We were fighting.”

“Indeed.”

“You helped A.I.M. with their tech.”

Loki shrugged. “A small enhancement to their shields.”

“And then you ran off to monologue in a half-built building.”

“Which you caused to collapse with your little… gadget. So tell me, now, who is to blame for this?”

Tony stared back in bold defiance. “I didn’t mean for the shock wave to be that large,” he said carefully. “Which means only half of this is my fault.”

Loki narrowed his eyes. “You are aware I can kill you without my magic, yes? Do you wish to see?” He crept both hands up the front of Tony’s suit towards his neck, chilled fingers brushing the skin of Tony’s throat.

“You’ll need me to power the suit after the batteries recharge,” Tony said, rushed and in one breath. “It’s the only shot either of us have of getting out of here.”

The hands stilled and withdrew. “Killjoy. How long?”

“Dunno. Half an hour at best, few hours at most.” Tony shrugged, but inside the suit the gesture was mostly symbolic. “I don’t exactly have a power source to plug into.”

“How fortuitous for you. Despite all your system failures, your gimmick of a magic suppressor is the only thing still working. Tell me, did you manage to steal some for yourself as well?”

Tony laughed at the thought. “And do what with it? I’m risky, not stupid. As far as I’m concerned, I’m not touching your magic with a ten-foot-pole. But hey, in the meantime, where’s my helmet?”

Loki only gave him a blue-lit smirk in response, and Tony followed his gaze to the side. He whined in dismay, the damage to it obvious, and he reached up to push Loki off his perch. “ _Gitoff_.”

Loki laughed as he fell backward, arm braced to catch himself and thighs still wrapped around Tony. The suit remained dead weight as Tony rolled to his side to fling his arm out and pull the helmet to him. The LEDs inside indicated diagnostic mode in short, flashing patterns as Jarvis worked to bring the system back online.

“I’m never gonna hear the end of this, am I?” Tony muttered to Jarvis and pushed himself sitting. The green lights blinked **n-o/s-i-r** in response. He kept the helmet cradled in his lap and stared at the inside morosely, following the change in light patterns, and pretended Thor’s brother had not been draped over him moments before.

With a drawn-out sigh, Loki claimed his own spot against the wall of rubble. The space was unforgiving. It allowed them each little more than an open area that still placed them knee-to-knee.

The minutes stretched on in silence; they both seemed content to let the conversation die.

After a time, Loki leaned forward and rested his hand on Tony’s leg.

Tony snapped to attention. “What are you doing?”

“You cannot feel this, can you?” Loki asked. He shifted to his knees and ran a palm along the length of Tony’s thigh. The suit was cold from soaking in the chill of the air around them. Loki’s fingertips fell into the grooves between the metal plates, and he pulled lightly to test the give. Tony did not notice.

“Hold on,” Tony said, frowning. “Are you seducing me? Right now?” He set aside his helmet and pulled his leg up towards his chest. He watched Loki with suspicion, and the empty space between them was soon filled as Loki edged closer.

“Perhaps,” Loki said, “if you can consider it that. Is it working? I am terribly bored.”

“Bullshit.” Tony shooed his hand at Loki. “You’re just trying to convince me to help you get out of here.”

“Well, yes. That much is evident. But I am still bored.”

“You’re bored,” Tony repeated in disbelief, before he felt hands push down on his knees. “Is that why you’re crawling into my lap? Christ, how much do you weigh?”

Loki took Tony’s hands from his sides and placed them on his hips. “Those are pretty words, Stark.” He brushed his lips over Tony’s. “But I am hearing no true complaints.”

Tony reared back. “I’m not sure how copacetic this is, to be honest.”

“Oh?” Loki wore a teasing grin. “Are we being honest with each other now?”

“Just boredom, right?”

“But of course,” Loki said as he steadied Tony’s face.

Loki kissed him teasingly soft at first, and then with more ardor. Tony’s enthusiasm grew, despite present company, and he found he enjoyed the small noises Loki would make when Tony shifted his thigh between Loki’s legs.

This time it was Loki who pulled away. “Why,” he asked, expression reproachful, “are your hands as still as the dead?”

Tony licked his bottom lip to check for blood; Loki had revealed early on his penchant for teeth. “If you want to get felt up by metal gloves, then sure, I can do that. But neither of us are going to enjoy it.”

“Perhaps the reputation which precedes you was made in haste? Or they are very generous.”

“Look, don’t get your news from the tabloids. I’ve never screwed anyone in my armor.”

Loki scoffed and grabbed both of Tony’s gauntlets by the wrists. They separated from the suit easily with a twist and brute force. “Is that what you think this will lead to?”

The gauntlets clattered to the ground. Tony managed to say, “What the hell?” while his hands were gripped once more and placed back onto Loki’s hips.

“Fine, that works,” Tony said, “not like they’re one of the more complicated moving parts of the suit.”

Loki muttered, “Shut up, Stark,” and kissed him again.

Tony slid his hands from hips to ass and pulled Loki closer against him. These wanderings of Tony’s hands were a vast improvement, in Loki’s estimation, but both had to search for suitable holds on the other which were not covered in armor. Tony settled for pulling at the lapels of Loki’s coat, while Loki fisted his hand in Tony’s hair and exposed his neck, trailing nips down the skin and into the hollow of his throat.

The Iron Man suit stayed unyielding during growing arousals.

“Shit, stop. Stop,” Tony said.

“Whatever’s the matter?” Loki readjusted his weight and earned a groan from Tony.

“My armor’s a fucking chastity belt, is what’s the matter.” He pushed at Loki when he laughed. “You planned this.”

Loki leaned back in. “Only ‘half-responsible’, again? My, Stark, you give yourself such little credit.”

“Fuck you.” Tony closed his eyes and rested his head against the wall behind him. He took in a steadying breath.

“Now there’s an idea,” Loki suggested, his voice low and a near-purr in Tony’s ear. He grinned at Tony’s impressive frown. “How are those batteries of yours faring?”

Tony sighed, relieved to switch topics. “A watched pot never boils, et cetera.”

He checked. Inside his helmet, Jarvis announced in flashes of Morse code that the suit’s power reserves had reached a usable level. They could attempt to contact the Avengers, but there was little certainty it would work, or that Jarvis could accurately tell where to find them.

Only striking a bargain remained.

“If you got your magic back, how would you get us out of here?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Loki said, his head tilted in consideration. “A little of this, and a little of that. The specifics are rather… specific. Must I explain the theory to you?”

“I just need to know that you’re not going to pop out of existence and leave me down here.”

Loki grimaced. “Poor choice of words. Popping out of existence sounds rather unpleasant. But yes, to assuage your fears, I will do my utmost and very best to return you to the great green arms of your Hulk.”

“For the record,” Tony said at last, “I don’t trust you, but that’s good enough for now. Jarvis, use the reserve power to deactivate Silence of the Lamb.”

The diagnostic lights blinked in confirmation. A moment passed. Nothing happened. There was no shock wave or maniacal laughter. There was only the sound of breathing between them.

“So, do you—”

Loki gripped Tony’s chin and directed his face forward. A cool, prickling sensation crawled up Tony’s throat and the side of his face like arc-lightning, and Loki grinned, teeth blue in the light.

“Yes, this will work fine.” Loki kissed Tony once more, a mad and giddy fervor beneath the surface, and Tony felt his stomach flip.

He realized it was the vertigo when the sun appeared in an instant, his center of gravity suddenly realigning to the ground beneath his back, and the weight of Loki pressing him into it as he knelt above. There were sudden shouts in the distance, and Loki still wore a wide grin.

“This will work _just_ fine,” Loki repeated, then patted Tony’s cheek twice before disappearing.

Natasha got there first and stood leaning over Tony with her back against the sun and hands on her knees. Tony looked to her.

“Welcome back, Tony.” She said, nearly fond but very amused. “You want to explain what I just saw before Thor asks about it?”

“Not really,” Tony said, and he let her pull him standing. He knew he would pay for his avoidance later, and the price would be upgrades that Natasha had hinted about for weeks.

It wasn’t until he returned home and saw the remains of his forgotten helmet, propped up on the wet bar like a calling card, that Tony wondered if he should have explained, after all.

 


End file.
